In the US, a wealth boom and a price shock collide

Reuters reports that household wealth in the United States rose 16.5 percent, or roughly $26 trillion, from the end of the Biden administration through the second quarter of 2026, but the least wealthy half of households received less than $500 billion of that gain. The top 1 percent was the only group to increase its share of national wealth over the period.

At the same time, tariffs, energy shocks, elevated mortgage rates, and fast-rising prices for salient goods are squeezing households that rely primarily on wages. Schneider includes important counterevidence: lower-income spending has held up better than a simple K-shaped narrative predicts, and New York Fed research has not yet found a broad household-credit crisis.